In the last 22 days up to 5 October 2021 the Northern NSW Local Health District covering the 7 local government areas in north-east NSW has had 41 cases COVID-19 community transmission after its resident populations being COVID free for 165 days

 

In the last 22 days up to 8pm on 5 October 2021 the Northern NSW Local Health District covering the 7 local government areas in north-east New South Wales - from the southern boundary of the Clarence Valley to the NSW-Queensland border - has had 41 confirmed cases of COVID-19 community transmission.

Before that the region’s resident populations had been COVID free for 165 days.

However, by Day 107 of the far north coast’s COVID free period its fate had already been sealed. Because the NSW Coalition Government’s COVID-19 Crisis Committee, urged on by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, had already decided that all of New South Wales should learn to ‘live with COVID’.

It was not only then NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, then Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Health Minister Brad Hazzard making this political decision to listen to big business & a bullying prime minister rather than to wiser heads.

Then Treasurer and current NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, Services NSW Minister Victor Dominello, and Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres were part of the crisis committee and were apparenently gung-ho for the regions to be stripped of full public health protections (PHPs) before resident populations 15 years & over were 70% fully vaccinated.

So that inevitably the local health district in which I live which had zero community transmission became seeded with the SARS-Cov-2 Delta Variant under the Lib-Nats state government’s learning to ‘live with COVID’ plan.

NSW Health, Northern NSW Local Health District, media release, 6 October 2021:

There have been three cases of COVID-19 reported in the Northern NSW Local Health District to 8pm yesterday, Tuesday 5 October.

Two cases are in the Casino area of Richmond Valley Local Government Area (LGA), and one case is in the Lismore LGA.

All three are household contacts of confirmed cases. Two of the cases had been self-isolating and one had been infectious in the community for 24 hours.

Two cases are now being cared for in hospital, and both are in a stable condition.

To 8pm 5 October, there have now been 41 total cases confirmed in Northern NSW since 16 June when the current Delta outbreak in Sydney began.

NNSWLHD can confirm there have now also been four positive cases in the Grafton area reported since 8pm.

These case are under investigation, and will be reported in NSW Health’s figures tomorrow.

Expanded clinics will be available in Grafton this week:

Grafton Base Hospital, 184 Arthur Street, Grafton, open seven days. Today, Wednesday 6 October until 7.30pm. Thursday and Friday 7am – 7pm.

Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology Grafton South, Coles Complex, Shop 9, 4 Bent Street, South Grafton. Open 7am – 4pm Thursday and Friday. Please note – this clinic will only be providing COVID-19 testing over these days, no general pathology.

Further dates and times for these testing clinics will be advised in due course.

For the week of 19-25 September there were 10,562 tests conducted among local residents of Northern NSW Local Health District. In the four days to 30th September a further 6,372 tests were conducted.

Thank you to everyone who has come forward for testing. If you have had a negative test and then develop new symptoms at a later date, please come and get another test. It’s important that we keep testing numbers as high as possible, to identify any new cases among our community.

Investigations are continuing into any possible public venues of concern relating to confirmed cases, and more information will be provided as soon as it’s available.

NSW Health does not disclose details about venues unless there is a public health reason to do so.

Stay-at-home orders are in place for Lismore LGA, Casino, and Kyogle LGA until 11 October due to an increased COVID-19 public health risk.

Everyone in these areas must stay at home unless it is for an essential reason, which includes shopping for food, medical care, getting vaccinated, compassionate needs, exercise and work or tertiary education if you can’t work or study at home.

Anyone with even the slightest symptoms should get tested as soon as they feel unwell. There are more than 500 COVID-19 testing locations across NSW. Find a clinic at COVID-19 testing clinics or contact your GP.

We encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as they are able to. Find available bookings at the Australian Government’s COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Finder (previously eligibility checker), or you can also call Health Direct on 1800 571 155 for assistance to book.

Will NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet follow in Berejiklian & Barilaro's footsteps and abandon the state government's public health responsibilities for regional New South Wales?

When on 16 July 2021 the NSW Coalition Government discovered that the Delta Variant of SARS-CoV-2 had entered Australia, the Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD) covering 7 local government areas in north-east New South Wales had not had a confirmed locally acquired case of COVID-19 infection in its resident population for 107 consecutive days.

There was no community transmission of this highly infectious, lethal disease in any of those seven council areas.

Even after then Premier Gladys Berejiklian, then Deputy Premier & Minister for Regional New South Wales John Barilaro, Health Minister Brad Hazzard, then Treasurer Dominic Perrottet began to pressure their own Crisis Cabinet and conspire with Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook (NSW) Scott Morrison and the big business sector to impose ‘living with Covid’ on the state population, north-east NSW still managed to identify and contain infected people who came into the region from elsewhere. So the region continued to have no local community transmission for another 58 days.  Right  up to 13 September 2021 when a local family who had taken a trip to Greater Sydney brought the virus back with them.

Since then - under multiple tweeks to the public health order which have allowed more mobility in the population generally, demonstrated a growing government aversion to lock downs, exposed a weakening of the test, trace, isolate & quarantine system and revealed a less than transparent NSW Coalition Government - the NNSWLHD has gone from 72 historical COVID-19 cases over the first 13 months of the pandemic (none of which were active after the end of March 2021) to 38 active cases in the last 21 days up to 4 October 2021.

New confirmed locally acquired COVID-19 cases are now being reported daily within the local health district borders.

And with only five days left to the first stage of opening up the state, these seven north-east NSW local government areas have fully vaccinated percentages in their respective populations which by 3 October were still way below the NSW 70% fully vaccinated target set for Monday 11 September 2021:

Tweed Heads LGA - 52.5%

Ballina LGA - 57.8%

Byron Bay LGA - 41.6%

Kyogle LGA - 50.3%

Richmond Valley LGA - 49.8%

Lismore LGA - 47.0%

Clarence Valley LGA - 50.3%

[Australian Government, Operation COVID Shield, 4 October 2021]

The public health risk that these percentages reveal was the reason a cross party letter, from all five state members of parliament whose electorates cover these seven LGAs, was sent to the then Premier & Deputy Premier on 23 September 2021 asking them “to adjust public health orders….by restricting non-essential travel to the North Coast until it too has reached the milestone”.

It is obvious Berejiklian and Barilaro didn’t really give a damn about regional New South Wales, but will Perrottet? 

After all, like Berejiklian, Perrottet’s private residence & electoral office fall within faraway metropolitan local government areas which have exceeded that 70% fully vaccinated population target.

On his first day in office Perrottet has answered that question. According to The Australian  he "will reshape his crisis cabinet to prioritise economic recovery and community wellbeing over day-to-day emergency management in one of his first acts as NSW Premier".

It is apparently Perrottet's intention to allow the SARS-CoV-2 virus in all its forms to run wild in New South Wales.

This is only the start of our region's woes.....

NSW Health, Northern NSW Local Health District, media release, 5 October 2021:

There have been six cases of COVID-19 reported in the Northern NSW Local Health District to 8pm yesterday, Monday 4 October.

Five cases are in Casino area of the Richmond Valley Local Government Area (LGA), and one case is in the Kyogle LGA.

Of these six cases, three are household contacts of confirmed cases who had been self-isolating, one is linked to a public exposure location and the source of the remaining two cases is under investigation.

Investigations are continuing into any possible public venues of concern relating to these cases and other cases reported in recent days, and more information will be provided as soon as it’s available.

NSW Health does not disclose details about venues unless there is a public health reason to do so.

There have now been 38 total cases confirmed in Northern NSW since 16 June when the current Delta outbreak in Sydney began. One case is being cared for in hospital, and is in a stable condition.

Stay-at-home orders are in place for Lismore LGA, Casino, and Kyogle LGA until 11 October due to an increased COVID-19 public health risk.

Everyone in these areas must stay at home unless it is for an essential reason, which includes shopping for food, medical care, getting vaccinated, compassionate needs, exercise and work or tertiary education if you can’t work or study at home.

Anyone with even the slightest symptoms should get tested as soon as they feel unwell. There are more than 500 COVID-19 testing locations across NSW. Find a clinic at COVID-19 testing clinics or contact your GP.

We encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as they are able to. Find available bookings at the Australian Government’s COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Finder (previously eligibility checker), or you can also call Health Direct on 1800 571 155 for assistance to book. 

NOTE:

NSW Health appears to be no longer focussing on cumulative COVID-19 infection numbers in local health districts but on current "active" cases. COVID-19 cases will remain statistically active for 14 days after a confirmed diagnosis or until an infected individual is released from hospital - after which they will no longer appear in daily reports.

NSW Coalition Government admits vaccination certificates may not be available by 11 October 2021 & concerns grow that QR code monitoring may be removed from state's public health response and COVID-19 case tracing & contacting downgraded to an ineffectual level

 

YASMIN CATLEY MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND DIGITAL

NO VAX APP FOR ROADMAP, BEREJIKLIAN GOVERNMENT ADMITS

The NSW Government has admitted that the vaccination certificate feature on the Service NSW app will not be ready when the state reopens on 11 October.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Customer Service and Digital, Victor Dominello also told 7:30 he is planning on withdrawing mandatory QR codes completely come December – which received a no comment from the Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant at a Parliamentary hearing yesterday.

VICTOR DOMINELLO: I think the QR codes should be retired once we get to the 90 per cent mark.
[ABC 7:30, WEDNESDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER 2021]

The delay of this app is causing significant anxiety amongst the business community who face having to police the vaccination status of customers.

QR codes and the check-in system have been vital to testing, tracing, isolation & quarantine (TTIQ), a cornerstone of the National Roadmap and Doherty Institute Modelling.

The Committee also heard that the Government is still considering what TTIQ looks like at 70 per cent, with reopening only a week away.

Minister Dominello also indicated future measures may increasingly rely on automated text messages and questionnaires, which the committee was told yielded lower compliance - with a response rate of as little as 40-50 per cent.

NSW Labor is concerned without a working app and a clear approach to contact tracing, public confidence in the reopening will be seriously undermined. We are seeking assurances that this will not place an additional burden on hospital capacity.

Shadow Minister for Customer Service and Digital, Yasmin Catley MP said businesses are desperate for certainty and are deeply concerned the failure of the app to be ready for reopening will place staff in the difficult position of enforcing compliance with the health orders.

“The Minister has form in letting business down consistently throughout this pandemic and the delay of the app is just another instance of the Minister failing to provide certainty”, Ms Catley said.

“This is the Minister that botched the rollout of critical financial support to businesses right across this state, leaving business waiting weeks for applications to be processed while their income completely dried up.

“The NSW Government needs to step up to the plate and provide the business community with clear answers on if the app will be ready on 11 October, and if not when can business owners expect the app to be available?” Ms Catley said.

DATE: FRIDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2021

Copyright © 2021 NSW Labor SPLP Media, All rights reserved.

Covid-19 infection & public health order update for north-east New South Wales, 2 October 2021

NSW Health-NNSWLHD, media releases, 2 October 2021:

Northern NSW Local Health District has been notified of 12 new cases of COVID-19.

Eight new cases were confirmed in residents of Northern NSW Local Health District to 8pm 1 October.

Six cases are from Lismore, one in Kyogle and one in Casino. All cases are linked to the Kyogle cluster.

A further four cases were confirmed overnight, three in the Tweed area and one in Kyogle. These four cases will be included in NSW Health’s official reporting tomorrow.

 ⚠ The total number of active cases in Northern NSW is 26.

Northern NSW Local Health District has been notified of new venues of concern associated with confirmed cases.

Anyone who attended the following venues at the times listed is considered a casual contact and must get tested and isolate until they get a negative result.

• Kyogle: Caltex, Summerland Way, Tuesday 28 September, 5:45pm to 6:00pm

• Wollongbar : Wollongbar Tavern, 53 Simpson Avenue, Monday, 27 September, 5:25am to 8:00 am

If you are directed to get tested for COVID 19 or self-isolate at any time, you must follow the rules given to you by Health staff, whether or not the venue or exposure setting is listed on the NSW Health website.

Contact tracing and investigations are continuing, and information about new public exposure venues will be provided as soon as it is available.

❗ Sewage surveillance has detected fragments of the COVID-19 virus in samples taken from the South Grafton sewage treatment plant on 30 September. This plant serves around 6,300 people. This is the fourth detection in the past 10 days in this area.

There are no known cases in the Grafton or Clarence Valley region, and we strongly urge residents and visitors to be vigilant for symptoms and please get tested as soon as they feel unwell. It’s important to isolate while waiting for your test result, and follow the instructions given to you by Health staff.

Sewage surveillance has also detected fragments of the virus in samples taken from the East and South Lismore sewage treatment plants on 29 September.

There are active cases in the areas served by these treatment plants, and we continue to encourage anyone in the Lismore area with even the mildest of symptoms to get tested.

Symptoms of COVID-19 can include a runny nose, scratchy or sore throat, cough, fever, shortness of breath, headache, tiredness, loss of taste or smell, nausea, diarrhoea or muscle aches.

⚠ Stay-at-home orders remain in place for Casino and Kyogle until 11 October due to an increased COVID-19 public health risk.

Everyone in these areas must stay at home unless it is for an essential reason, which includes shopping for food, medical care, getting vaccinated, compassionate needs, exercise and work or tertiary education if you can’t work or study at home.

There are more than 500 COVID-19 testing locations across NSW. Find a clinic at: https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/health-and-wellbeing/clinics or contact your GP.

We encourage our community to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as they are able to. Find available bookings at the Commonwealth Government’s COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Finder: https://www.health.gov.au/.../covid-19-vaccine-clinic-finder (previously eligibility checker), or you can also call Health Direct on 1800 571 155 for assistance to book.

Cartoon of the Week

Cathy Wilcox

In NSW 18 regional local government areas & one town have their stay-at-home public health order extended to 11 October 2021 and another regional LGA along with another town are under stay-at-home orders for seven days

 

Last time I looked there were 128 local government & 1 unincorporated area within New South Wales.

On Sunday 11 September 2021 regional residents woke to the realisation that all but 38 of the 87 regional local government areas (or 44% of all regional councils) came out of the state-wide COVID-19 lockdown.

However since then the Delta Variant Outbreak has continued playing a game of musical chairs with regional councils, as infected people from towns in metropolitan areas travelled into the regions seeding as they went.

So now, 20 days since the blanket regional lockdown ceased, due to the current presence of COVID-19 infections 22% of all regional local government areas are fully covered by stay-at-home orders and one regional council has two of its towns covered by these particular orders. In addition to this, COVID-19 fragments are regularly turning up in the state's 100km wide coastal strip, indicating that the virus still remains quite mobile.

Come 11 October in ten days time, when that merry little band of Glad, Brad, John & Scotty push to begin opening up NSW, there is no way every regional local government area will have 70% of their resident population fully vaccinated. As of 26 September 2021 absolutely none had reached that 70% fully vaccinated 'eligible' population target nor is there any guarantee that the virus transmission rate will be low enough in metropolitan areas to avoid a surge in active case numbers.

It doesn't take a crystal ball to predict that by the end of October the Delta Variant of SARS-CoV-2 may be lighting up more regional areas.

NSW Health, media release 2021:

Changes to stay-at-home orders for regional NSW local government areas

Stay-at-home orders will be extended until 11 October for a number of local government areas (LGAs) in regional NSW due to the ongoing COVID-19 public health risk.

Stay-at-home orders will be extended for the following LGAs until 11 October: Bathurst Regional, Bourke, City of Broken Hill, Central Coast, City of Cessnock, Dubbo Regional, Eurobodalla, Goulburn Mulwaree, Kiama, City of Lake Macquarie, City of Lithgow, City of Maitland, City of Newcastle, Port Stephens, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional, City of Shellharbour, City of Shoalhaven, and Wingecarribee.

Due to recent transmission of COVID-19, stay-at-home orders will be introduced for the Snowy Monaro LGA from 3pm today (Thursday) for seven days. These stay-at-home orders also apply to anyone who has the Snowy Monaro LGA since 22 September.

Stay-at-home orders will be lifted, as scheduled, from tomorrow, Friday 1 October, for Mid-Western Regional, Hilltops and Walgett LGAs.

For the Central Darling Shire Council, stay-at-home orders will be lifted from tomorrow, with the exceptions of Wilcannia and Menindee. Stay-at-home orders will be extended in Menindee for a further seven days and in Wilcannia until 11 October.

NSW Health will continue to closely monitor the evolving situation with COVID-19 and will not hesitate to update its advice to protect the health and wellbeing of the people of NSW.

We urge people throughout NSW to continue to come forward for testing at the first sign of even mild symptoms. To find your nearest clinic visit COVID-19 clinics or contact your GP.

High vaccination rates are also essential to reduce the risk of transmission and protect the health and safety of the community.

Use the COVID-19 vaccine clinic finder to find your nearest vaccination clinic, or visit: Get your COVID-19 vaccination.

Have NSW Premier & Liberal MP Gladys Berejiklian and Deputy Premier & Nationals MP for Monaro John Barilaro closed their ears to an earnest cross party plea to protect the residents of Ballina, Byron Bay, Clarence Valley, Kyogle, Richmond and Tweed Valley local government areas from COVID-19 infected travellers from Greater Sydney?

The question posed in the heading to this post appears to be yes - apparently neither Liberal leader Gladys Berejiklian nor National leader John Barilaro have listened to our concerns.

On or about 25 October fully vaccinated people - who as statistics demonstrate are still capable of becoming infected and infectious - will be free to travel into regional New South Wales. While from 1 December 2021 it is likely that even unvaccinated people will apparently be able to travel around the state.

Because on 27 September 2021 the NSW Premier & Liberal MP for Willoughby Gladys Berejiklian announced a three stage plan to open up the state once average full vaccination reaches 70 to 80 per cent of the total state population of those 16 years of age and older aka the ‘adult’ population.

The plan's alleged aim is that; Only fully vaccinated people and those with medical exemptions will have access to the freedoms allowed under the Reopening NSW roadmap.

At 70 per cent; Stay-at-home orders for fully vaccinated people will be lifted. Fully vaccinated residents will be allowed to have up to five people in their homes and the reopening of hospitality venues with a booking cap of 20 people per booking, retail, hairdressing and gyms will be allowed to re-open with tight density limits. This is expected to occur on or after 11 October 2021.

At 80 per cent; Fully vaccinated residents will be able to freely travel to the regions, they will be able have up to 10 people visit their home, participate in community sport, and access hospitality venues (where drinking while standing up will be allowed indoors). All premises will operate at 1 person per 4sqm indoors, and 1 person per 2sqm outdoors and, the limit of fully vaccinated guests for weddings and funerals will be lifted. Customer caps for personal services such as hairdressers will also be removed. This is expected to occur on or after 25 October 2021.

From 1 December 2021; Further changes will be introduced including all venues moving to the 2sqm rule, masks will not be required indoors at offices, indoor pools and nightclubs can reopen, and unvaccinated people will have greater freedoms. [my yellow highlighting]

The main problems with this staged plan is that: (i) a state-wide full COVID-19 vaccination average does not reliably denote a safe level of personal or local community immunity from infection, hospitalisation and/or death from this virulent disease; and (ii) not every region or local government area in NSW is likely to have reached 70 or 80 per cent of their resident population fully vaccinated by 11 to 25 October 2021.

Percentage of residents aged 15 years and over fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in North East New South Wales, according to the Australian Government Dept. of Health

As at 19 September 2021:

Ballina – 49% of a LGA ‘adult’ population of 37,124 (full resident population is est. 45,217 in 2020)

Byron Bay – 34.9% of LGA ‘adult’ population of 29,052 (full resident population is est. 35,773 in 2020)

Clarence Valley – 41.5% of LGA ‘adult’ population of 42,953 (full resident population is est. 51,730 in 2020)

Kyogle – 41.2% of LGA ‘adult’ population of 7,285 (full resident population is est. 8,788 in 2020)

Lismore – 38.5% of LGA ‘adult’ population of 35,892 (full resident population is est. 43,667 in 2020)

Richmond Valley – 41.8% of LGA ‘adult’ population of 18,938 (full resident population is est. 23,490 in 2020)

Tweed – 45% of LGA ‘adult’ population of 80,493 (full resident population is est. 98,382 in 2020)

NOTE:

*2021 LGA ‘adult’ population figures was calculated by the Australian Government based on the sreet address recorded for persons enrolled in Medicare.

**2020 resident populations estimations can be found at: https://profile.id.com.au/

BACKGROUND

NORTH COAST VOICES, FRIDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER 2021

All five NE NSW Nationals, Liberal, Labor & Greens MPs ask Premier Berejiklian and Deputy-Premier Barilaro to adjust COVID-19 public health order by restricting non-essential travel to the region until it too reaches the 70% fully vaccinated target

All five NE NSW Nationals, Liberal, Labor & Greens MPs ask Premier Berejiklian and Deputy-Premier Barilaro to adjust COVID-19 public health order by restricting non-essential travel to the region until it too reaches the 70% fully vaccinated target

 

23 September 2021

MEDIA RELEASE

NORTHERN RIVERS MPS UNITE TO SEEK TEMPORARY PROTECTION FROM SYDNEY "70 PERCENTERS"

The five NSW MPs representing the Northern Rivers have joined forces to ask the NSW Government to protect the region from a predicted influx of city "70 percenters" when Sydney reaches the Government's double vaccination target before the regions.

The Nationals' Chris Gulaptis (Clarence), Geoff Provest (Tweed) and Ben Franklin MLC as well as Labor's Janelle Saffin (Lismore) and the Greens Tamara Smith (Ballina) have for the first time ever jointly written to Premier Gladys Berejiklian and her Deputy, Nationals Leader John Barilaro.

"We are really concerned that, without policy changes, our region will suddenly become deeply vulnerable to a major influx of newly freed Sydneysiders, while we are still short of the 70 per cent safety target," the MPs write.

"This apprehension is shared by locally based medical professionals we have consulted as well as the broader community.

"We cross party MPs recognise that we are all in this together.

“We therefore ask you to adjust public health orders to prevent this happening, by restricting non-essential travel to the North Coast until it too has reached the milestone."

The MPs describe their request as a "good health policy" which would give city dwellers a chance to say thank you to the regions for their support during Sydney's darkest hours over the winter by redirecting some of their vaccine supply to HSC students.

Tweed and Byron Bay local government areas removed from Qld 'border bubble' as of 1am Wednesday, 22 September 2021. Ballina, Richmond Valley, Clarence Valley to remain in bubble - for now - with updated restrictions

 

AAP General News Wire, 21 September 2021:

Byron and Tweed shire residents in NSW will only be allowed to enter Queensland for essential work and limited essential purposes from 1am on Wednesday.

Queensland will remove Byron Bay and Tweed Heads from the border bubble after the NSW government ordered those shires into a seven-day COVID-19 lockdown.

The state government says Byron and Tweed shire residents will only be allowed to enter Queensland for essential work, emergency volunteering and other limited essential purposes from 1am on Wednesday.

Previously they had been allowed to cross into Queensland for work, education, compassionate care or essential shopping, provided they've had one vaccine dose.

The announcement comes as NSW moved to lock down Byron and Tweed from 5pm on Tuesday after a COVID-19 case was infectious in both shires last week.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had foreshadowed changes to the border bubble earlier on Tuesday.

"The concern is, of course, if there are cases in northern NSW," Ms Palaszczuk told reporters.

"That will present a real risk to the southern parts of the Gold Coast, where I have thousands of families holidaying on the Gold Coast at the moment."

Removing Byron and Tweed from the bubble has complicated interstate travel for other border zone residents further south.

For Ballina, Richmond Valley and Clarence Valley shires residents the most direct route to Queensland is via Byron and Tweed.

Queensland Health said people entering the state from non-restricted border zone local government areas in NSW can do so if they transit through Byron and Tweed without stopping, in a private vehicle, in under two hours…….

Queensland Health, media release, 21 September 2021

Updated border restrictions for northern NSW

Increased border restrictions will be reinstated for the local government areas (LGA) of Byron Shire and Tweed Shire, as New South Wales announce an increased COVID-19 public health risk.

Byron and Tweed LGAs will become part of the restricted New South Wales border zone from 1am Wednesday 22 September.

Border zone residents who have been to Byron and Tweed LGAs will only be allowed into Queensland for limited essential purposes.

Queensland residents may only return to Queensland if they have entered a restricted area for limited essential purposes.

Those entering Queensland from a non-restricted LGA, who must transit through a restricted LGA, can do so if they transit, without stopping, using private transport for no more than two hours.

To enter Queensland from an LGA within the border zone you must:

• complete a Queensland entry pass

• get tested if you develop any COVID-19 symptoms after arriving in Queensland

• monitor the list of interstate exposure venues daily (at least once every 24 hours) from the time you complete a declaration and for 14 days after arriving in Queensland

• comply with face mask requirements.

Anyone who is currently in Queensland but has visited the area in the past 14 days should get tested if they have symptoms and isolate until they receive a negative result.

We will continue to monitor the situation in New South Wales and review restrictions as the situation evolves.

For more information about the border restrictions, visit www.qld.gov.au/health/covid19/update.

Public Health Alert – new exposure sites at Brisbane Airport

A public health alert is being issued for contact tracing locations at the Brisbane Domestic Airport after a previously confirmed positive case transited from New South Wales to the Northern Territory, via Brisbane.

The case was infectious on the flight to Brisbane, a flight from Brisbane to Northern Territory and while within the airport on 17 September 2021.

Please contact Northern Territory health authorities for specific information relating to this case.

We are asking all Queenslanders to regularly monitor the list of exposure venues on the Queensland Health website and follow the public health advice, as there may be more locations.

Contact tracing venues can be found at https://www.health.qld.gov.au/tracing.

A reminder for all Queenslanders – if you have any COVID-19 symptoms at any time, no matter how mild, you should immediately get tested for COVID-19.

ENDS

ITV Studios Australia allegedly failed to enforce mandatory stay-at-home public health order on its film crew while in the NSW Northern Rivers region

The twin diseases of 'exceptionalism' and 'entitlement' have been found lurking amongst visitors to the NSW Northern Rivers region yet again......

ABC News, 21 September 2021:

The COVID-19 case that sparked the lockdown on NSW's North Coast was a member of a film crew attached to reality show I'm a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!

The state government announced on Tuesday that the local government areas (LGAs) of Byron and Tweed would enter a snap seven-day lockdown after a woman tested positive for the virus.

The woman was an authorised worker but it is understood she did not follow stay-at-home orders while in the area.

The production company behind I'm A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! confirmed one of its crew had contracted the virus.

The series is being filmed in the Northern Rivers…..

"The crew member is fully vaccinated and was wearing PPE while at work."

The production spokesperson said all close contacts of the crew member had been identified and were isolating while they awaited their test results.

"We are working with NSW Health to ensure all necessary steps are taken in relation to contact tracing, testing and further communication to anyone that needs to isolate," they said.

NSW Police said contact tracing was underway and authorities would investigate any alleged breaches of the Public Health Order.

The infected woman arrived in Ballina on Saturday morning at 8.45am on Virgin flight 1141.

Health authorities said the person was infectious over the weekend and on Monday in the Byron, Ballina and Tweed areas.

Northern NSW Local Health District (LHD) acting chief executive Lynne Weir said the Kingscliff Beach Hotel on Marine Parade was the only close contact venue identified so far, but health authorities expected to list more.

"We believe that Byron Bay will have quite a few sites, so that is an area of concern for us," she said…... 

A 20 September Northern NSW Local Health District media release revealed the woman allegedly drank at the Kingscliff Beach Hotel at 102 Marine Parade, Kingscliff on 19 September 2021, between the hours of 4:00pm – 9:00pm.

As a result; Anyone who attended the following venue at the times listed is a close contact and must get tested and isolate for 14 days since they were there, regardless of the result. NSW Health sends a text message to people who have checked in at close-contact venues with further information.

At the time she entered the hotel the ITV Australia employee had been in the area for less than 9 hours, however her infectious state was not known until two days later on 20 September 2021.

UPDATE

NSW Police, News, 22 September 2021:

A woman has been charged over multiple alleged breaches of the Public Health Orders in the state’s north. 

Officers from Tweed/Byron Police District commenced inquiries yesterday (Tuesday 21 September 2021), after receiving information a woman from Greater Sydney had travelled to the area and since tested positive for COVID-19. 

Inquiries revealed the 31-year-old woman had been granted an exemption to travel to the area for work-related purposes only. 

She allegedly attended several businesses and venues in Byron Bay and Kingscliff over the weekend, which was in breach of the conditions of her exemption. 

Further, she failed to check-in at those locations using the QR codes. 

The Rushcutters Bay woman was issued with a Court Attendance notice today (Wednesday 22 September 2021), for five counts of fail to comply with electronic registration directive. 

She is due to appear before Tweed Heads Local Court on Monday 8 November 2021. 

Inquiries continue.